Report: Launch Of Facebook Video Ads Delayed (AllFacebook)
The video ads Facebook originally planned to launch this month or in July are now on hold until at least mid-October, AdAge reported, with sources telling the magazine more development is needed on new features the social network plains to release simultaneously with its video ads. One of those new features, according to AdAge, is the incorporation of metrics from Nielsen that would provide reach estimates in terms of gross ratings points, including for ads that were viewed without audio having been activated.

Report: Launch Of Facebook Video Ads Delayed (AllFacebook) The video ads Facebook originally planned to launch this month or in July are now on hold until at least mid-October, AdAge reported, with sources telling the magazine more development is needed on new features the social network plans to release simultaneously with its video ads. One of those new features, according to AdAge, is the incorporation of metrics from Nielsen that would provide reach estimates in terms of gross ratings points, including for ads that were viewed without audio having been activated. Inside Facebook Users were understandably enraged upon learning that Facebook might adopt this controversial ad unit. It was reported back in December that the company was still debating whether or not to have the sound automatically play with the video, which would probably lead to fewer time spent on News Feed. Mashable A source told Mashable that Facebook is still trying to convince advertisers of the merits of the ad units, which will fetch around $1 million. The 15-second ads would count as an impression even if consumers don’t watch them. Reuters In other Facebook news, the social network said on Tuesday it now has 1 million active advertisers globally who used the platform in the last 28 days, a milestone for the company that is seeking to revive its revenue growth. A vast majority of those advertisers are small business owners who have flocked to the world’s No. 1 social network. AllThingsD Facebook-owned Instagram plans to release a video product this Thursday at a press event at the social network’s headquarters, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, marking the first time the robust, 100-million user network will stray from being strictly a photo-sharing app and dive head first into the world of moving pictures. The new video product is something that the service said it was planning to do for two years now, and there have been numerous rumors about it in recent weeks.

Google Challenges NSA Secrecy in FISA Court (TIME) Google has petitioned a secret U.S. national security court to relax restrictions on the information the tech giant can reveal about government data requests, claiming such restrictions violate the company’s right to free speech under the First Amendment. Google’s motion, filed on Tuesday with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is the tech giant’s latest attempt to address recent media reports that suggested it gives the National Security Agency (NSA) unfettered or “direct” access to user data. USA Today Among the nine tech companies shown by whistle-blower Edward Snowden to have been handing over consumer data to the government, Google has been the most aggressive in attempts to cast itself as cooperating the least. “We have long pushed for transparency so users can better understand the extent to which governments request their data — and Google was the first company to release numbers for National Security Letters,” the company said in a statement. The Guardian The search firm already publishes a widely imitated “transparency report” that documents demands from the U.S. government and from other governments worldwide. The report documents criminal requests and national security letters, which the government uses to gather information about U.S. citizens in the United States.

Yelp Rolls Out On-Site Commerce, for a Fee (SocialTimes) Yelp Tuesday introduced a “Call to Action” feature that allows merchants to support a single type of transaction on their business listing page on the website. Yelp is selling the feature as a form of advertising and will allow businesses to customize the transaction their listing supports.